Baked Ratatouille with Goat Cheese and Pesto
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This is an easier way to make a traditional ratatouille recipe, a casserole with an assortment of fresh Mediterranean vegetables. Baking the vegetables for ratatouille means you can pop it in the oven and walk away! This colorful, rustic dish is ready to enjoy in less than an hour.
If you’re searching for vegetarian main dish recipes with a TON of flavor, baked ratatouille is it! This recipe is a fresh and simple version of a traditional French ratatouille recipe, with a colorful balance of colorful veggies.
Bake the ratatouille in a casserole or baking dish finished dish, and top it off with basil pesto sauce and soft goat cheese when it comes out of the oven. The cheese melts into a creamy, delicious topping.
About ratatouille
Ratatouille is a peasant dish from the southern France. It is considered one of the best vegetarian casseroles in the world. This hearty dish has been made for centuries in some form in countries all around the Mediterranean.
It’s basically a thick vegetable stew made in a pot, most typically made with crushed tomatoes, garlic cloves, zucchini, bell peppers, and eggplant. If you think you’re not a fan of classic ratatouille, I’m right there with you.
What I love about baking the eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, and peppers (instead of stewing them) is that it concentrates their flavor. That magical sweetness is one reason roasted vegetables taste so good.
Ingredients in ratatouille
- Eggplant: Choose fresh, glossy-skinned purple eggplant that are not too large and feel firm to the touch. Or try growing your own!
- Summer squash: I use zucchini and yellow squash
- Tomatoes: Vine tomatoes
- Garlic
- Bell Peppers: Red or orange bells are my choice. Green bell peppers aren’t as sweet.
- Herbs: Choose a few types of aromatic fresh herbs, like fresh basil, thyme, rosemary, or marjoram. Dried herbs will work too.
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Olive oil – I like a good extra-virgin oil.
- Fresh basil pesto: Top off the dish as a finishing touch.
1. Toss the eggplant, squash, peppers, and red onion with olive oil and herbs. 
2. Layer the vegetables over tomato puree and top with tomatoes. Bake about 30 minutes. 
3. Crumble cheese over the ratatouille and dollop with basil pesto sauce. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Tips for prepping eggplant
- To salt or not to salt: This is a question I get asked a lot, but be assured that you don’t need to salt eggplant. Generations ago, the type of eggplants that were grown tasted bitter. Salting the flesh before cooking helped to take some of that bitterness away. It also made the eggplant’s flesh softer for frying without absorbing too much oil. Newer varieties are bred to be less bitter.
- You don’t need to peel eggplant for this ratatouille recipe, but I usually trim off some of it for the best texture. I like to peel off random strips of skin, leaving the slices with pretty stripes. That way you get a little of both parts of the eggplant in each bite!
What to serve with ratatouille
- Spoon over creamy polenta or couscous as a vegetarian main dish or side dish.
- Enjoy it all by itself, with sliced toasted sourdough bread on the side.
- Stir in some cooked cannellini beans or chickpeas for extra protein and a gluten-free option.
- If you’re not on a vegetarian diet, make ratatouille a landing pad on your plate for cooked animal protein (chicken, shrimp, salmon)
Making ratatouille in advance
Some dishes were invented to be leftovers, like soups and stews that taste even better the next day (and the day after).
- Ratatouille is a perfect dish to do ahead. Make a batch of this baked ratatouille — it serves up to 6 people as a side, or 4 as a main dish — and keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
- This dish can be frozen. Prepare the recipe and bake, but leave off the cheese and pesto before putting it in the freezer. Defrost and heat at 350F about 20 minutes, then add the cheese and pesto before serving.
Baked Ratatouille with Goat Cheese and Pesto
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound (450 g) eggplant
- 2 small zucchini, 8-10 ounces total, sliced into ½" rounds
- 1 red or orange bell pepper, seeded and sliced into large bite-size pieces
- 1 small red onion, sliced (about ½cup)
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves plus 3 or 4 sprigs
- 1 cup (250 ml) canned tomato puree or crushed tomatoes
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed or grated
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 8 ounces plum tomatoes, vine tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half or quarters if large
- ½ cup (75 g) soft goat cheese, or crumbled feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) basil pesto sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 (220 C) degrees.
- Peel the eggplant, if desired, or leave some of the skin on in strips. Trim off the stem and sliced into quarters lengthwise, then slice into 1-inch thick half moons.
- Put the eggplant in a large bowl with the zucchini, bell pepper and onion. Drizzle with the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and the chopped thyme and toss together.
- Stir the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, garlic, crushed red pepper and black pepper into the tomato puree or crushed tomatoes. Spread over the bottom of a 4-5 quart casserole or baking dish.
- Arrange the vegetables in the dish in one layer. Top with the sliced tomatoes and thyme sprigs. Bake 30-35 minutes. The juices should be bubbling and the eggplant tender when pierced with a the tip of a knife. Remove the thyme stems (you can crumble the leaves over the dish first).
- Sprinkle the cheese over the ratatouille and drizzle with the pesto. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- Ratatouille keeps well for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
- Freezing Directions: Prepare and bake without the cheese and pesto. Freeze in a well wrapped container for up to 1 month. Defrost and heat at 350F about 20 minutes. Add the cheese and pesto before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.
a little confused on the cook ahead. So I do the whole recipe, bake it, then stick it in the refrigerator for up to five days. Then reheat before serving?
Hi Joe – If you want to prep this 5 days ahead, I suggest baking as directed, but leave off the cheese and pesto. Reheat at 350F, covered, for 15-20 minutes. Then add the cheese and pesto just before serving.
BIG YUM!
I left out the bell peppers, cause I don’t like them.
Can you use broccoli or cabbage in this recipe? I love Ratatouille, this sounds delicious!
You could use either – just be sure to cut them into smaller pieces so they become tender along with the other veggies.
What a great way to “deal” with a surplus of zucchini! I can’t wait to try this.
–Liza
This was delicious; made with lots of veggies from our garden and homemade pesto. The goat cheese and pesto added a nice punch.
Thanks.
I add red wine,oregano,lemon peel & tomato paste to the olive oil mixture.Be sure not to undercook this dish. brings out that deep Provence flavor).
can I ask please, the eggplant. Every recipe I have ever done using eggplant has called for sprinkling with salt after slicing, and leaving for a while then rinsing off before cooking. Something about them having a bitter taste if you don’t … is that the case? Many thanks 🙂 I want to try this recipe for sure !
Hi Rona – that’s such a great question! I’ve been cooking eggplant for years and years, and pretty much NEVER do the pre-salting before cooking. My opinion is that it’s an old-school technique. Modern varieties of eggplant are not too bitter. Choose fresh, firm eggplant and you’ll be good to go.
thank you so much! I will bake this tonight 🙂
I have make this dish but I love vegetables so I’ll try it this weekend. I’ll let you know how I do.
Yes please let me know!
This looks SO yummy! Thank you for sharing! ?
What a colorful dish!! Can’t wait to try.